Waterfalls, Coffee, Beaches, and Moe

So it has been a while since my last post. This week has been pretty crazy trying to finish writing my grant and I needed a break from computers and writing. But here I am at a computer again, this time in San Juan del Sur. The weeks are going by so fast and they are all so full of stories and moments I wish to share… I don´t know where to begin!

Last weekend for the mid summer retreat, I was the first to be picked up by our bus and then sat through a seven hour ride to Northern Nicaragua, past Matagalpa. I had no idea what to expect and was excited to find we were staying in a remote nature reserve in camp style bunk beds. It was beautiful! When we arrived Saturday night the small community of the reserve put together a welcome party for us which consisted of dancing in a small wood hut to Spanish music played through a radio. Because of the heavy rain the area gets we all rented large rubber boots, so to make the evening even more memorable, all dancing was done in large rubber boots. It was awesome. Sunday we woke up and went on an hour or so hike to an amazing waterfall. The hike definitely ranks up there as one of the most beautiful of my life. Our boots proved to be incredibly useful as the trail was at times ankle deep in mud. Drenched from both the rain and mist from the waterfall we then headed back to the vans for the 7 hour bus ride home. I think I spent as much time on the bus as I did at the reserve, but it was worth it.

Monday through Thursday I was plastered to a computer working on a grant to FSD for my organization. It is now done and we are waiting to hear the results which will be given tomorrow. Despite all the work I put into it I am not feeling too confident that we will be awarded the money. I had a lot of difficulty trying to work things out with my organization who did not really understand the process. Either way, I have learned a lot about the grant writing process and still have a lot of things that will keep me busy with my organization over the remaining three and a half weeks.

This weekend I have been in San Juan del Sur. This is another popular spot for foreigners but in a different way then Granada. In Granada you would likely see a group of older folks walking around in safari hats, cameras in hand. In San Juan del Sur you see more of the relaxed surfer crowd. Granada is a beautiful city but I liked the overall feel of San Jan del Sur better. On Friday I met up with the Masaya interns in Rivas and together we took a taxi to San Juan. The rest of the day consisted of beaching, drinking coffee, exploring, eating hamburgers, and dancing. Saturday, Molly’s Birthday, turned out to be the most amazing day I have had in Nicaragua so far. A few blocks from the beach in the heart of San Juan del Sur is a little cafe, Gatto Negro, that sells an incredible selection of books, store roasted organic coffee, and amazing gooey triple chocolate espresso brownies. The owners of the cafe are a very nice couple who decided they wanted a change of pace from their lives in the states. Because San Juan del Sur is a popular spot for backpackers passing through, surfers, and students trying to learn Spanish we met a lot of really interesting people from all over the globe. I could have spent the whole day eating brownies, drinking coffee, reading, and listening to other peoples stories which is exactly the break I wanted after a week staring at the computer. But as things always seem to work out as they do, a few of us where trying to decide if we wanted to meet the rest of the group at a nearby beach that was supposed to be a popular spot for surfers when a man came in to announce that they had planned a party for a group of orphans at another beach and were looking for people to help out and play with the kids. We decided to go and met the with the man, his girlfriend (a yoga instructor), and a retired nurse who called herself Moe. I went in Moe´s car and held her two small dogs (Mystic and Diva) in my lap as she pulled out of the gas station explaining that she had just bought the car and was not too sure how to drive stick shift, she reassured us that she would be her best but, “when you go with Moe you go with the flow.” Moe, who now lives in a yoga community in Nicaragua (not too sure what she meant by that), is definitely one of the most interesting people I have ever come across, I could use up this entire blog trying to describe her. After a bumpy 30 minute ride we pulled up to a beautiful beach. I do not remember the name, but it was a flat sandy beach bookended by tall cliffs, in the distance you could see the Costa Rican coast. Besides the orphans and various volunteers, the beach was completely deserted. It was amazing. We ate pizza and swam with the orphans and then watched as they all got a chance to smash apart a piñata. After the piñata a downpour didn´t stop anyone, including the kids, from lining up to do some yoga on the beach. Things like this can´t be expected or planned, it was so amazing and perfect.

Now I’m looking at only three and a half more weeks. The time is going by so fast it is hard to believe.